The Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration is hesitant to fully implement oil sanctions against Iran and Russia as it seeks to stabilize gasoline prices ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.
The administration regularly denounces Russian and Iranian malign actions against U.S. allies and has imposed several rounds of sanctions on both countries, most recently on Iran on Tuesday. according to But sanctions against those countries have not been fully implemented because the administration wants to maintain stability in global oil markets and prevent domestic gas prices from rising, former U.S. government officials, diplomats and energy experts briefed on the matter told the Journal. (Related story: Congress moves one step closer to unleashing America’s nuclear energy shackles)
“The president wanted to do everything in his power to ensure that American consumers could get the lowest possible gasoline prices that impact the daily lives of families,” a senior Biden administration official told the Journal.
Gasoline prices are down $1.40 from their post-Russia war highs, but they’re still too high.
My Administration will release one million barrels of gasoline from the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve ahead of the Fourth of July, which will lower prices at the pump at a time when people need it most.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 28, 2024
Analysts told the Journal that the recently imposed sanctions against Iran only affect a small portion of the country’s oil exports and will not have a substantial impact on global markets. Iranian oil exports have surged since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, earning billions of dollars for the Islamic regime. The administration’s Homeland Security Investigations agency had not seized an Iranian oil shipment for more than a year as of September.
According to the WSJ, sanctions against Russia have not had a significant impact on the country’s economy or oil exports since Russia began its war with Ukraine in 2022. The Biden administration urged Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil refineries after attacks on Russian refineries in March rattled global markets.
The Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Russia in June, but only targeted Russia’s banks, not its oil industry, the WSJ reported.
Treasury officials have grown frustrated that the administration has not done enough to target networks that facilitate Russian and Iranian oil exports, diplomats and energy experts familiar with the matter told the Journal. Some administration officials worry that sweeping measures against the oil industries of sanctioned countries could have a major impact on global markets and spur inflation at home, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
As of June 2024, the average price of gasoline across the U.S. is about $3.50 per gallon. according to To the Energy Information Administration: Under the former Trump administration from 2017 to 2021, gas prices never exceeded $3.
As of May, only 38% of voters had confidence in Biden’s ability to steer economic policy in the right direction, down from 57% in 2021. according to About half of Americans say the same about former President Donald Trump, Biden’s main opponent in November’s presidential election, according to a Gallup poll.
“Nothing scares the president of the United States more than high gasoline prices,” Bob McNally, president of consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House policy adviser under George W. Bush, told the Journal. “They’re going to do everything they can to prevent this, especially in an election year.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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